Author's notes…
--Chapter Two: Ino's Pain--
Ino had always been the happy, bubbly type. She was well known for her loud and bossy personality. Her teammates were especially known to this side of her. But even though Ino portrayed as a carefree girl, she had experienced quite a handful of losses in just a few years.
Because of a boy, she had lost her best friend: Sakura Haruno. It killed Ino to the core because she had seen Sakura as a sister. Ino had befriended this girl, who was always being teased, and helped her come out of her shell. Sakura had shared all her secrets with the blonde, and Ino did the same with pink-haired girl. Then Sakura found out Ino had feelings for Sasuke, and rather than decide to choose friendship over boys, Sakura had chosen to break off their special bond. Sadly, the emerald-eyed girl didn't know Ino's entire story. Sakura never knew about the special bond she had had with the avenger.
Ino's crush on Sasuke didn't start because of Sakura. A few years before Ino had met Sakura, the Yamanaka had lost another best friend: Sasuke Uchiha. True no one would imagine such a strange friendship now, but it had happened. Those two were truly inseparable. Ino and Sasuke would literally wait for each other everyday after class to hang out. But all that came to a stop when Itachi Uchiha killed off Sasuke's relatives. The survivor then shut himself from the rest of the world, including Ino. He always pushed her away, saying she didn't understand—she couldn't understand. Little did Sasuke know, however, during his absence from the blonde, Ino had also lost someone precious in her family.
A few months after Sasuke began avoiding Ino, the unthinkable occurred: her mother passed away. Ino knew a ninja's life was always in danger; but her mother had been so brilliant, Ino never imagined her life would be taken away from her so brutally. Ino's mother had been sent on an espionage mission, but the man she had been ordered to spy on knew of her little mission before hand. And while the Lady Yamanaka tried to get her information, the man stabbed her unexpectedly in multiple places—resulting in her death.
Ino had been devastated at hearing about her mother's death. She had spent months crying in secret, and she wouldn't do it in public. After all, it was one of the shinobi rules: never show any emotions under any circumstances. But how Ino missed her mother's soothing voice when it came time for her to sleep. She missed being in her mother's arm, and receiving her sweet kisses. Ino could remember being so inspired to become a kunoichi because of her mother.
"Mom."
Now the thirteen-year-old had nothing of her own. She had no real friends or mother. All the supposed friends she had decided to abandon her, as Sakura had done. Sure Shikamaru was her best friend, but he spent more time with Chouji—though Ino understood why completely. Chouji needed Shikamaru more than she did. But who was Ino left with? With everything going on, Ino struggled to hide all her emotions.
After so many years of bottled up emotions, Ino scurried off to the hilltop. With a lifeless gleam in her eyes, the Yamanaka landed on her knees and ran her hand through the grass. She reached for her tools pocket and pulled out a kunai. Ino began spinning her kunai, only to stop a moment afterwards.
Her entire left arm was covered with incisions she had made herself. Ino once again held onto her kunai and ran the sharp tip of the kunai across her arm. She drew in a sharp breath and began to cry. She looked up at the sky and began crying harder and harder. She once again picked up her kunai and began cutting her arm quickly.
'I hate this! Why do I keep doing this?'
She then got tired and threw her kunai far away from herself. She brought her hands to her face and cried nonstop. Not even the beautiful starry night could calm her tears. All of the sudden, Ino felt someone land in front of her and say, "Ino?" Ino looked up and called out to the boy in front of her.